The benefits of thinking ahead

[jwilliams]

This isn't really a disaster, but is a good advertisment for thinking ahead.

I've been helping renovate a friend's late-60's flat. We've stripped off layer after layer of painted-on wallpaper (going through various style trends on the way), smoothed the walls off, lovingly given them 4 coats of paint and ended up with a beautiful surface.

We then started to replace all the discoloured and painted-on plastic sockets & lightswitches with sleek, modern stainless steel flat-plate ones.

Half the back-boxes are too shallow.

Pulling the boxes out and chiselling out the back has resulted in several large chunks of beautiful, smooth painted plaster falling off

I believe this falls under "things we should have done last week".

 

[Tozzy]

Half the back-boxes are too shallow.

Please excuse my ignorance when I ask this, but I presume you mean the recesses for the plug sockets? Just asking so I don't follow a wrong route .

Regarding this matter, I advise to always have a plan first . There is an order of doing most DIY related tasks, even painting a door has to be done in a certain order starting inwards and gradually moving further out . I'm going to start decorating my brother's room soon. A new carpet needs laying, the skirting needs painting and the wallpaper needs.... erm, damn what's the word? Hanging lol? Before I start working, it would be a good idea to paint the skirting, hang the wallpaper and then finally lay the carpet .

Anyway, I think you can learn from the mistake you made and make a plan beforehand next time . We are always learning .

 

[jwilliams]

Half the back-boxes are too shallow.

Please excuse my ignorance when I ask this, but I presume you mean the recesses for the plug sockets? Just asking so I don't follow a wrong route

Yeah, them's the fellas.

You're right, a full plan would have helped. Not sure we'd have spotted this, as the entry would just have been "change sockets", but I'll be checking the depth of things in the future!